A few years back Greg Thow took this majestic shot in Rocky Mountain National Park, and I’m still not sure it isn’t my favorite Greg photo ever. So today, while hiking the Lower Cataract Lake loop up in Summit County I came across Cataract Falls. Didn’t know there was a Cataract Falls. But this scene reminded me of Greg’s RMNP shot. I don’t think I’m anywhere near that one in terms of power and artistic impact, but it’s nice to have pretty spots to practice, huh?

Faux Falls is just outside Moab, UT. It’s “Faux” because the water is pumped from an adjacent canyon through a ridge to move the water closer to town, cascading down into a lake.

During the Moab Photography Symposium I shot Faux Falls on two separate occasions, once coming down on the falls from above, once from below. Acutely aware of some errors (er, suboptimal decisions) in the first session, I set out to create a better image during the second. Part of that was seeing in black & white, part framing, part clearing excess material from the image field itself. I’m happy with the result, at least for now.

I should point out that during this second shooting session, I lost a lens step-up ring into the stream and was soaked to halfway between my ankles and knees. At least I didn’t hurt myself. That was a different shoot :-).

We spent a couple of nights at the Spearfish Canyon Lodge in Savoy, SD (near Lead, SD) in the Black Hills. Roughlock Falls is a mile or so up the road, with a couple of good views from below the falls.